Annotated Games: Version 1.0, 3 players

This game was played during testing of Knights & Damosels. The table lists for each player which chivalry cards his damosel holds (to the left), which cards he holds (to the right). The letters shows the chivalry (Ar=Armor, Hr=Horse, Sw=Sword, Hn=Honor, Lo=Loyalty, Va=Valor, Fa=Farmer, Fi=Fisher, Fo=Forester) and the color the damosel. The number in parentheses shows the knight's worship and the * who plays the Arthur role.

Since this is a 3 player game, the chivalry cards of a 4th non-played "neutral" damosel are included (purple).

Damosel phase

In the first turn, with no event, the players give random cards.

Knight phase

Event phase

With a unique Virtue card, Launcelot uses his Merlin role to select a Quest (Tristran & Isoud) and a Prosperity (Arthur's Marriage), both beneficial to him. Gawain in his Arthur role had preferred a War but has to accept a Prosperity.

Damosel phase

Launcelot's damosel tempts Gawain with a Loyalty, knowing that Bors can't take it. Gawain's damosel doesn't have an easy choice as whatever she plays, Bors may take it before Launcelot, and finally gives a Fisher. Bors' damosel's decision is easier as an Armor can only be taken by Launcelot and the neutral damosel also draws an Armor.

Knight phase

Gawain can only take Loyalty and Bors takes the Fisher, hoping to claim the Armor as well. However, Launcelot is fortunate to take the purple Armor so the green Armor is discarded.

Service phase

With the reversed turn order, Launcelot starts and offers Armor, saving his unique Honor to last. Bors offers Loyalty, forcing Gawain to challenge someone since he only has Armor and Honor. He challenges Launcelot and wins so Launcelot offers Honor instead. This leaves Bors as the only knight to offer a 2nd card (Fisher).

Event phase

Gawain's position is bad with little worship, 2 cards from the same damosel and little chance of offering them this turn since he's last. He uses his Merlin role to select a Disaster (Merlin's Death) but Bors prefers to take his chance with Merlin's other selection, The Conquest of Rome, hoping that Arms cards will be available.

Damosel phase

Bors' damosel tempts Launcelot with a Sword, Launcelot's damosel tempts Gawain with a Horse (Bors may take it before Gawain but Launcelot hopes Gawain will challenge him in that case) and Gawain's damosel plays an Honor that can only be taken by Bors. The neutral chivalry card this turn is a Fisher.

Knight phase

Bors takes the Horse and Launcelot the Sword. As expected, Gawain challenges Bors for the Horse. After a tough joust, Gawain finally loses and has to take the Fisher instead. Gawain's damosel's Honor is left and discarded.

Service phase

The knights start by offering Armor, Sword and Fisher respectively. Since Launcelot has the only Sword, he tried to challenge Gawain for the right to play Armor (to be able to play Sword as the 2nd card) but lost both the joust and 1 worship. Bors offered Fisher since he has the only Horse and this enabled him to play Horse as the 2nd card.

In the war, Launcelot gambles and plays Armor, although a Sword would have secured a victory in the War since the other knights only have Armor and Horse. The idea is that if the service card shows Sword, 1 chivalry will be removed from the battle and potentially leave less cards to share the 6 worship. The idea comes true and a new service card drawn to reveal that Armor is removed from the battle. Thus, Gawain is out of the battle. In the 2nd round, Launcelot plays his Sword and Bors his Horse and since the service card shows a Sword again, the war is won and the knights receive 3 worship each. With 1 extra worship for Bors' Horse against Rome, another 1 for his Fisher and 1 from Gawain for the joust, Bors is the winner of the turn.

Event phase

With the Merlin role and a lead in worship, Bors plays safe and selects a Quest (Questing Beast) and a Prosperity (Round Table). With 2 Virtue cards, Launcelot selects the Quest.

Damosel phase

Launcelot's damosel tempts Gawain with an Honor. Gawain's and Bors's damosels play Sword and Horse respectively, more to deny other players more worship than trying to tempt them. Forester is this turn's neutral chivalry card.

Knight phase

Launcelot first takes the Forester but is immediately challenged by Gawain, who suspects that the Honor comes from Launcelot's damosel. He wins both the card and 1 worship and Launcelot is left without the Horse. Bors takes the Honor and the Sword is discarded.

Service phase

Bors offers Honor and Gawain Loyalty. Launcelot challenges Bors and wins so Bors offers Fisher instead, whereupon Gawain offers Forester. Launcelot enters the Quest with Honor and Gawain with Loyalty. The Service card shows Honor and they earn 3 worship each. This turn, Gawain made a strong comeback with another 1 worship for the Forester and 1 worship for the joust.

Event phase

With all three Arms cards, Launcelot uses his Merlin role to put a War (Siege of Carlion) against a Disaster (Adultery), which also will benefit him since he could "lose" one of the 3 cards from Bors' damosel. With 2 Vassalage cards, Gawain prefers the War.

Damosel phase

Gawain's damosel has been unsuccessful so far so she gives a card that scores no worship this turn, the Valor. Bors' damosel gives a Forester aimed for Launcelot, possibly too obvious but at least Gawain can't take it. Launcelot's damosel plays a Farmer for the other knights to fight about, although a damosel victory will still be far away. The neutral chivalry card this turn is a Valor.

Knight phase

Gawain needs worsip and takes the Farmer while Bors takes Gawain's Valor while Launcelot, after some hesitation, takes what he expects to be a neutral Valor (which it is). Bors' Forester is thus discarded.

Service phase

All knights offer unique Arms cards and win the War. Bors also offers Fisher and Gawain Forester. Bors remains in a leading position with 11 worship, just 3 from winning.

Event phase

Merlin (Gawain) selects a Prosperity (Excalibur) and a Disaster (Mordred). None is good for Bors, since Gawain has the only Fisher (extra worship against Excalibur) and a Disaster would hurt Bors the most (he has the most worship to lose). Reluctantly, he selects Excalibur.

Damosel phase

Launcelot has no Vassalage cards so Bors' damosel gives a Farmer. Unlike Fisher or Forester, the neutral Farmer has not been given yet so Launcelot can't be sure who gives this card. Launcelot's damosel gives a Sword for similar reasons, hoping that Bors will take another card first so that Gawain can take this. Gawain's damosel has no hope of giving 5 cards to another knight so she gives away the only card that won't compete with Gawain's cards, a Horse that the other knights already have. Since the neutral damosel also plays a Horse, the knights' choice will be limited.

Knight phase

Bors can only take the Sword, Launcelot only the Farmer and Gawain only the Horse. Gawain's own Horse is discarded but he's happy to have avoided a 4th card from the same damosel, unlike Launcelot...

Service phase

No knight manages to offer more cards than the other and Gawain scores 1 extra worship for Fisher against Excalibur. However, both he and Bors are just below the victory condition so the game will be settled by the 7th chivalry card.

Event phase

With 10 event cards used, all are returned to the game. As Merlin, Bors thinks his best bets are Questing Beast (he has all 3 Virtues, Gawain lacks Valor) and Siege of Carlion (he has Sword). Launcelot as Arthur has not given up and selects Valor with the intention to joust for it.

Damosel phase

Launcelot's damosel gives Fisher, a Vassalage that won't compete with Launcelot, and Gawain's damosel gives Armor with the same intention. Bors takes the last chance to tempt Launcelot with a Loyalty while the neutral card turns out to be a Farmer.

Knight phase

Launcelot is trapped! The only card he can take is the poisoned Loyalty, giving him 5 cards from Bors' damosel. Gawain' can't take any card while Bors can take the Farmer so the Armor is returned to Gawain and the Fisher to Launcelot.

Service phase

The Service phase is quiet as Bors avoid provoking jousts that may give the other knights worship on his behalf and is happy with his damosel victory.

The game continues with the Battle of Camlann. Gawain takes the role of Mordred and Launcelot sides with him. Bors takes Armor and 2 worship from Launcelot for his damosel victory and a Forester from an unused color since he fights alone. Then he prepares for the battle of Camlann. The table shows the cards played in the battle to the right of the knight and bold indicates that the card survived the round.

Gawain gets a good start as his Fisher survives the first round but Bors still has two more cards. Next round, Bors play Arms instead (Horse) and all cards die. Round 3 both Launcelot and Gawain are lucky as their Valor and Loyalty survive when Bors play Sword.

In round 4, Gawain survives again by playing Farmer and has caught up with Bors. However, in round 5, Bors gambles and play his last Virtue (Honor) instead of one of his three Vassalage. Both Launcelot and Gawain play Horse and lose it. Next two rounds, all cards are lost and Launcelot is out of the battle. Bors now has one of each chivalry (Armor, Honor and Forester) against Gawain's Armor and Forester. By playing first Armor and then Forester, Bors is sure to defeat Gawain's remaining cards while having Honor left. Bors wins the battle and the entire game!

P&P (PDF, A4)

P&P (PDF, US letter)

Annotated games

• v1.3, 4 players
• v1.0, 4 players
• v1.0, 3 players

If you like those game mechanisms, I can also recommend: